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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
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SPEECH  OF  MS.  GEORGE  P.  MARSH,  OF  VERMONT, 

O X THE  TARIFF  BILL. 


'DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  U.  STATES,  APRIL  30,  1844. 


ie  House  being  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  on  the  bill  reported  by  Mr.  McKay,  from  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  to  modify  and  amend  the  Tariff  law  of  1842 — 

Mr.  Marsh,  of  Vermont,  addressed  the  committee  as  follows: 

We  have  cause,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  congratulate  the  House  and  the 
untry  upon  the  temper  in  which  this  debate  has  been  in  general  con- 
cted.  The  gentlemen  who  have  participated  in  it  have  confined 
enaselvcs  nioie  ciosely  than  is  usual  to  the  real  question  at  issue, 
ley  have  maintained  their  respective  positions  with  a cool  earnestness 
tone  indicative  of  honest  difference  of  opinion,  and  no  discussion  of 
e session  has  called  forth  greater  ability  or  exhibited  more  successful 
bor  of  preparation. 

The  controversy  is  indeed  momentous — momentous  both  in  its  direct 
aring  on  all  the  great  interests  of  the  American  people,  and  because 
has  already  become  the  means  of  determining  conclusively  a point 
no  small  importance,  and  hitherto  much  disputed.  It  has  been  as- 
rted  at  the  North,  with  confident  vehemence,  that  this  is  no  party  but 
ectional  issue;  and  that  the  Democrats  of  the  eastern  and  middle 
ates  are  as  staunch  supporters  of  the  doctrine  of  legislative  protection 
domestic  industry  as  their  political  opponents.  But  the  authoritative 
position  of  the  views  of  the  party  in  the  majority  in  this  House,  from 
e Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  settles  this  question  forever.  Hos- 
ity  to  the  principle  of  designed  protection,  whether  direct  or  incident 
, is  openly  avowed,  and  spite  of  the  disclaimers  of  rebellious  individ- 
ls,  it  must  hereafter  be  regarded  as  an  established  article  of  faith  in 
creed  of  the  party  assuming  to  be  emphatically  Democratic.  It  is 
longer  the  question,  whether  the  dominant  party  on  this  floor  is  or 
not  friendly  to  the  industrial  interests  of  their  country,  but  whether 
rtain  of  its  refractory  members  can  be  constrained  by  the  force  of  po- 
ical  discipline  to  bow  the  knee,  and  prefer  the  supremacy  of  their 
rty  to  their  own  solemn  convictions  of  what  belongs  to  their  country’s 
od.  It  is  a test  of  the  stringency  of  paity  organization  ; and  if,  with 
majority  of  more  than  two-thirds,  you  fail  to  pass  this  bill,  you  will 
ply  a new  proof  of  what  the  world  already  more  than  half  suspects, 
at  the  wand  of  the  magician  i3  broken,  and  that  the  spell  hath  lost 
power  to  charm.  American  industry  will  begin  to  feel  that  it  rests 
on  a surer  basis  than  the  shifting  sands  of  party  ascendancy,  and  the 
damental  policy  of  our  country  will  come  to  be  regarded  as,  for  a 
e at  least,  res  jadicata.  We  of  the  North  shall  cease  to  fear  that  the 
>ffcious  South,  having  now  outgrown  the  need  of  that  protection 
ich  bus  done  its  office  for  her  great  staple,  will  a second  time  be 
le  to  subvert  the  course  of  our  trade,  and  change  the  occupations  of 
r laboring  co^rn unity. 

It  has  been  made  matter  of  boast  that  the  citizens  of  a certain  southern 
te,  which  has  been  at  different  periods  within  one  generation  most 

rinted  at  Gideon’s  office,  Ninth  street,  Washington. 

P tT 


conspicuous  on  both  sides  of  this  great  question,  are  the  French  of 
America.  Gallant  they  may  be,  and,  for  aught  I know,  gallant  al^> 
as  Frenchmen  ; but  if  we  award  them  this  praise,  they  must  pardon  us 
for  hinting  that  they  are  also,  like  the  French,  un  peu  volages , some- 
what fickle.  Fickleness,  in  a certain  sex,  and  under  certain  circum- 
stances, may  be  even  graceful,  but  in  legislators  and  statesmen  it  is,  at 
best,  but  an  equivocal  attribute;  and  the  people  of  the  South  must  even 
bear  with  our  more  phlegmatic  tempers,  if  we  now  relish  the  diet  they 
prescribed  for  us,  and  persist  in  acknowledging  the  value  of  doctrines 
which  we  first  imbibed  from  their  superior  wisdom. 

That  this  is  a question  upon  which  sectional  interests  and  sectional 
feeling  have  a very  strong  bearing  I am  not  disposed  to  deny.  Nor  do 
I pretend  that  I can  divest  myself  of  their  influence.  Sir,  I should  be 
ashamed  if  I could.  I dare  not  assume  to  be  above  the  partialities 
which  belong  to  humanity;  and  were  I insensible  to  such  considera- 
tions I should  be  beneath  them.  I cannot,  nay,  sir,  I will  not,  shut 
my  eyes  to  the  interests,  the  claims,  of  my  own  region,  of  my  own 
humble  State.  While  I conscientiously  believe  that  the  policy  of  pro- 
tection is  demanded  by  the  best  interests  of  all  her  sisters,  to  her  I 
know  it  is  vital;  and  so  deeply  rooted  is  this  conviction  among  those 
whom  I,  with  my  colleagues,  have  the  honor  to  represent,  that  the  very 
agitation  of  this  question — a question  supposed  to  have  been  settled  by 
the  great  contest  of  1840,  when  the  nation,  with  unparalleled  unanim- 
ity, pronounced  upon  it  in  a voice  of  thunder — has  already  produced 
a panic,  whose  influence  upon  the  price  of  our  only  staple  will  cost  the 
wool  growers  of  Vermont  not  less  than  half  a million. 

We  of  the  extreme  North,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  obliged  to  contend  with 
physical  difficulties  to  which  the  more  favored  South  and  West  are 
strangers.  Our  territory  is  mountainous — our  soil  rugged  and  compar- 
atively unthankful.  The  bushel  of  corn,  which  the  labor  of  minutes 
produces  for  the  western  farmer,  costs  us  the  toil  of  hours.  Our  climate 
is  of  even  fearful  severity;  the  thermometer  rises  to  ninety-five  degree  s 
above  zero,  and  falls  to  the  congealing  point  of  mercury.  In  summer 
we  swelter  under  the  sun  of  the  tropics,  in  winter  we  shiver  amid  Si- 
berian snows.  Even  now,  while  we  have  been  for  weeks  luxuriating 
beneath  an  Italian  sky,  my  constituents  are  but  just  emerging  from 
polar  frosts,  and  even  the  broad  bosom  of  our  noble  lake  is  scarcely  yet 
free  from  its  bonds  of  almost  perennial  ice.  For  a great  portion  of  the 
year  our  highways  are  rendered  almost  impassable  by  drifted  mountains 
of  snow,  or  the  alternate  frosts  and  thaws  of  an  early  autumn  and  a 
tardy  spring.  Our  summer  seed  time  is  not  yet  past  when  the  south 
begins  her  harvest,  and  the  plough  is  often  frozen  in  the  furrow  before 
the  winter  grain  can  be  committed  to  the  earth.  Yet  such  are  the  in- 
dustry, the  enterprise,  the  untameable  energy  of  our  hardy  people, 
that,  in  spite  of  these  accumulated  difficulties  and  discouragements, 
Vermont  stands,  in  point  of  production,  as  compared  with  population, 
if  not  first,  very  near  the  head  of  the  list.  But  the  wants  of  man  and 
beast  in  so  rude  a climate  are  so  much  greater,  and  their  variety  of 
supply  so  much  less,  that  almost  the  whole  produce  of  the  soil  is  re- 
quired for  domestic  consumption,  and  little  surplus  is  left  for  the  pur- 
chase of  necessaries  of  foreign  growth.  Domestic  animals  must  be  both 
fed  and  sheltered  for  half  the  year;  and  this  involves  not  only  time, 
labor,  and  direct  expense  to  the  farmer,  but  the  outlay  of  costly  ar- 


3.  *08  Commerce.  ^ 


3 


rangements  for  storing  and  preserving  the  various  articles  of  food  re- 
quired for  the  consumption  of  his  stock.  So  the  quantity  and  variety 
of  clothing  needful  to  meet  the  changing  seasons,  the  greater  necessity 
for  nutritious  and  stimulating  diet,  the  supply  of  fuel,  expensive  modes 
of  building  to  ward  off  the  rigors  of  winter,  and  to  preserve  for  long 
periods  a stock-of  vegetable  food;  all  these  impose  additional  burdens 
upon  the  farmer.  On  the  other  hand,  his  season  of  productive  labor  is 
short,  the  variety  of  his  products  narrow,  and  the  obvious  result  is,  that 
the  diligent  and  persevering  toil  of  summer  scarcely  suffices  to  accu- 
mulate a supply  for  the  consumption  of  a long  and  unproductive  win- 
ter. A few  horses  and  cattle,  a little  of  the  produce  of  the  dairy,  a 
small  and  yearly  decreasing  quantity  of  lumber,  and  the  fleeces  of  our 
sheep,  are  all  we  have  to  spare.  It  is  upon  these  products  that  the 
northern  farmer  relies  for  the  means  to  pay  his  taxes,  educate  his  chil- 
dren, and  give  them  a slender  outfit  when  they  abandon  the  paternal 
fireside,  and  commence  their  pilgrimage  to  the  sunny  South  or  the 
mighty  West.  Prostrate  our  manufactures,  deprive  us  of  this  one  re- 
source, and  you  plunge  us  into  absolute,  hopeless,  irretrievable  ruin. 

The  subject,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  one  of  such  vast  comprehension  and 
extent,  it  admits  of  such  an  infinite  variety  of  argument  and  illustration, 
and  involves  such  a mass  of  details,  that  not  a single  hour  only,  but  days 
•would  be  required  for  its  adequate  discussion;  and  I find  myself  enforced 
by  the  narrow  limits  prescribed  by  the  parliamentary  law  of  this  House, 
eithertocontentmyself  with  presenting  some  verygeneralconsiderations, 
or  to  confine  myself  to  a very  partial  view  of  the  question.  I ought  not 
to  complain  of  the  one  hour  rule,  both  because  I voted  for  its  adoption, 
and  because  in  a deliberative  assembly  of  two  hundred  members,  all  of 
whom  aspire  to  be  heard,  while  none  is  content  to  listen,  the  exuberance 
of  eloquence  must  somehow  be  checked,  and  such  a rule  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a necessary  evil.  But  for  this  evil,  if  such  it  be,  there  is  a ready 
remedy  by  appealing  to  our  Caesar — the  people — through  the  press;  and 
it  is  happily  no  breach  of  privilege  to  print  as  a speech  that  which  never 
was  spoken.  Moreover,  gentlemen  who  want  the  stentorian  power  of 
lungs  required  to  fill  the  echoing  void  of  this  vast  Hall,  may  find  consola- 
tion in  the  reflection,  that  the  still  small  voice  of  the  press  will  penetrate 
to  nooks  and  corners  where  the  tones  of  the  speaker  are  never  heard. 

I shall,  then,  make  no  effort  to  compass  an  impossibility,  by  essay- 
ing a full  discussion  of  the  tariff  question  within  the  space  of  a single 
hour,  and  I shall  limit  myself  , to  some  remarks  of  a general  character. 
I beg,  however,  not  to  be  understood  as  undervaluing  the  importance 
of  minute  examination  and  precise  detail.  None  could  have  listened 
to  the  instructive  speech  of  the  gentleman  from  Maryland,  (Mr.  Weth- 
ered,)  so  replete  with  sound  sense  and  practical  knowledge,  without 
being  convinced  of  the  value  of  such  accurate  statistics.  But,  sir,  it 
has  been  my  fortune  to  have  had  even  a better  instructor.  I have 
been  schooled  in  this  matter  by  dear  bought  experience.  Myself  un- 
happily a manufacturer,  I know  too  well  the  indispensable  necessity 
of  the  most  rigorous  exactness  in  the  calculation  of  the  numerous  ele- 
ments of  profit  and  loss.  I have  learned  how  disastrously  an  apparently 
insignificant  change  in  the  arrangement  of  duties  may  affect  a large 
establishment,  and  that  a trivial  modification  of  the  tariff,  which  shall 
not  perceptibly  vary  the  amount  of  revenue,  and  shall  scarcely  save  a 
penny  to  any  individual  consumer,  may  work  utter  ruin  to  the  manu- 


4 


facturing  capitalist,  and  the  hundreds  who  depend  upon  him.  But,  after 
all,  this  experimental  knowledge  makes  me  suspicious  of  the  accuracy 
of  statistical  detail,  and  the  reasonings  founded  on  it,  and  I know  not 
whether  I have  been  more  strongly  moved  to  ridicule  or  to  contempt, 
by  the  ignorant  assumptions  and  the  puerile  calculations  to  which  I 
have  listened  upon  this  floor. 

Figures,  it  is  said,  cannot  lie;  but  this  aphorism,  a mere  truism  in  its 
proper  sense,  is  in  its  popular  use  a mischievous  falsehood.  In  the  rage 
for  what  are  called  facts  in  this  calculating  age,  it  is  astonishing  how 
eagerly  supposed  facts  and  half  truths  are  caught  at,  to  the  neglect  of 
the  most  obvious  principles;  and  how  readily  these  facts,  by  a Procrus- 
tean process,  are  forced  into  accordance  with  preconceived  theories. 
So  far  has  this  gone  that  it  is  time  for  reaction.  Men  are  in  danger  of 
running  into  the  contrary  extreme  of  despising  all  statistical  knowledge ; 
and  in  all  probability,  u to  lie  like  the  multiplication  table  ” will  soon 
pass  into  a proverb. 

In  fact,  the  uncertainty  of  speculative  estimates  in  matters  of  politi- 
cal economy  is  such,  that  we  are  authorized  only  to  form  general 
conclusions  from  a 'priori  reasoning.  We  may  infer,  in  general,  that 
the  protection  of  domestic  industry  is,  or  is  not,  advantageous  to  the 
interests  of  a nation  ; but  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  even  approxi- 
mately, the  effect  of  a given  duty  upon  either  revenue  or  home  pro- 
duction, otherwise  than  by  experiment.  But  the  interests  involved  in 
these  questions  are  of  such  vast  magnitude,  that  experiments  are  al- 
ways in  the  highest  degree  dangerous;  and  when  you  have  a tariff 
which  satisfies  at  once  the  demands  of  the  revenue,  the  producer,  and 
the  consumer,  it  is  the  very  acme  of  madness  to  adventure  upon  exten- 
sive changes,  except  upon  such  cogent  evidence  as,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  is  hardly  attainable.  An  alteration  of  the  tariff,  which  shall  add 
but  a few  thousands  to  the  revenue  may  not  improbably  destroy  a 
branch  of  business  in  which  millions  are  invested.  You  may  safely 
amend  your  tariff  by  the  gradual  and  cautious  change  of  the  duties  on 
single  items,  or  narrow  classes,  but  the  sudden  subversion  of  a com- 
plete system,  a passage  per  saltum  from  protection  to  warfare,  is  an  act 
of  absolute  political  revolution. 

Sir,  as  I have  said,  there  is  in  the  speculations  of  political  economists 
a most  remarkable  uncertainty.  The  calculations  of  the  keenest  and 
most  sagacious  publicists  have  been  more  frequently  disappointed  than 
verified;  and  there  is  no  branch  of  human  knowledge  in  which  the 
results  of  experience  have  so  frequently  and  so  flatly  contradicted  the 
theories  of  the  closet.  The  causes  which  affect  trade  and  manufac- 
tures are  numerous,  and  oftentimes  obscure  ; and  the  reciprocal  action 
of  these  causes  upon  each  other,  and  upon  commerce  and  industry, 
complicated  as  it  is  by  unknown  and  ever  changing  influences,  consti- 
tutes a problem  harder  of  solution  than  that  of  the  perturbations  of  the 
planets. 

Were  we  without  the  light  of  experience,  it  would  seem  to  be  a very 
obvious  truth,  that  you  must  increase  the  cost  to  the  consumer  of  every 
imported  article,  by  the  amount  of  both  the  duty  and  the  profit  and 
commissions  on  the  capital  required  to  be  advanced  for  the  payment  of 
the  duty.  But  experience  is  to  the  contrary,  and  you  can  scarcely  cite 
an  instance  i ri  the  history  of  any  country,  whose  industry  is  unshackled 
and  unrestricted  by  Government,  where  a protective  duty  has  not  beea 


5 


speedily  followed  by  an  improvement  in  the  quality?-,  and  a reduction 
imthe  price,  of  the  articles  protected;  and  of  this  you  have  had  nume- 
rous illustrations  in  the  course  of  this  debate.  The  immediate  effect  of 
such  duties  seems  in  general  to  be  a reduction  in  the  price  of  the  ma- 
nufactured article  at  the  place  of  production,  the  foreign  manufactu- 
rer submitting  to  a diminution  of  his  profits,  for  the  sake  of  retaining 
the  market.  At  the  same  moment,  domestic  establishments  are  grow- 
ing up,  and  by  the  double  competition  of  these  with  each  other  and 
the  foreign  producer,  a further  reduction  of  prices,  accompanied  by 
an  improvement  in  quality,  soon  follows.  Various  causes  concur  to 
produce  this  improvement  in  the  quality  of  American  manufactures, 
besides  the  competition  to  which  I have  just  alluded.  The  scrutinizing 
habits  of  the  consumer,  great  mechanical  ingenuity  in  the  artisan,  his 
better  knowledge  of  the  tastes  and  wants  of  his  countrymen,  and  above 
all  the  readiness  with  which  he  seizes  upon  and  appropriates  every 
improvement  in  his  art.  In  Europe,  all  changes  are  slow.  New  ma- 
chines or  mechanical  combinations  are  for  a long' time  used  only  in 
new  establishments,  and  the  fixed  habits  of  the  people,  whether  labo- 
rers or  employers,  render  the  introduction  of  new  processes  difficult 
and  tardy.  The  American  loves  change  for  its  own  sake,  and  is  keen 
in  the  appreciation  of  improvements;  and  a new  machine  is  no  sooner 
patented  and  tested,  than  the  old  process  is  abandoned,  thrown  aside, 
and  supplanted  by  the  new.  The  consequence  is  that  every  manu- 
factory is,  at  all  times,  near  the  highest  attained  point  of  excellence, 
and  there  is  an  incessant  struggle  for  precedence  in  the  march  of  im- 
provement. 

It  is  extremely  hazardous  to  argue  from  European  precedents,  and 
perhaps  there  is  no  country  from  whose  condition  it  is  more  unsafe  to 
draw  conclusions  than  from  that  one  which  is,  unhappily,  almost  the 
only  one  ever  referred  to  in  our  debates,  for  the  obvious  reason  that 
community  of  language,  frequency  and  facility  of  intercourse,  and  the 
extent  of  our  commercial  relations  with  England  make  us  more  fami- 
liar with  that  country  than  with  others,  from  which  we  might  draw 
quite  as  valuable  lessons  of  practical  wisdom.  The  apparent  analo- 
gies between  our  national  character  and  institutions  and  those  of  Eng- 
land are  so  numerous  and  striking,  as  quite  to  conceal  from  the  view 
of  the  superficial  observer  those  less  obvious  but  more  deeply  rooted 
and  most  important  features  in  which  they  differ.  Sir,  in  genius,  ha- 
bits, and  condition,  the  American  people,  and  I thank  Heaven  for  it, 
are  as  diverse  from  the  people  of  England,  as  they  are  from  any  Chris- 
tian nation.  Our  most  cherished  and  valued  institutions  are  based  on 
principles  fundamentally  opposite  to  those  of  the  civil  and  political 
systems  of  England;  and  apart  from  community  of  speech  and  histori- 
cal recollections,  and  those  habits  of  thought  which  a similarity  in  the 
forms  of  language  necessarily  implies,  we  are  a radically  distinct  peo- 
ple. We,  sir,  are  the  genuine  representatives  of  that  glorious  race 
who  overthrew  the  Stuart  dynasty  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  the  principles  of  Cromwell  and  Milton,  which  have  now 
become  extinct  in  their  native  soil,  and  no  longer  mark  the  English 
character,  flourish  here  in  their  full  vigor.  For  these  reasons,  argu- 
ments from  English  practice  are  as  inapplicable  as  if  drawn  from  the 
policy  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  There  is,  therefore,  no  force  in  that 
argument  which  would  dissuade  us  from  protecting  our  own  industry, 


6 


because  England,  which  protects  hers,  exhibits  so  fearful  an  amount  of 
ignorance,  pauperism,  and  crime.  There  is  no  parallel  between  the 
cases.  You  find  the  same  abandoned  vice,  the  same  unenlightened 
ignorance,  and  the  same  abject  poverty,  in  every  European  country 
cursed  with  a hereditary  aristocracy,  a law  of  primogeniture,  an  esta- 
blished church,  and  to  crown  all,  a national  debt  of  such  magnitude 
as  to  weigh  like  a millstone  about  the  neck  of  the  people. 

So  vast  is  the  public  debt  of  England,  that,  for  the  payment  of  its 
interest  alone,  a population  but  once  and  a half  as  large  as  our  own  is 
taxed  annually  a sum  equal  to  the  total  amount  of  the  debt  of  all  the 
American  States;  and  in  order  that  the  burden  may  not  fall  too  heavily 
on  the  rich,  the  entire  body  of  lands,  in  which  the  poor  have  no  di- 
rect interest,  is  taxed  but  five  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  other  taxes,, 
which  press  most  heavily  on  the  poor,  amount  to  no  less  than  fifty 
times  that  sum,  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum. 
This  is  independent  of  tithes  and  church  rates,  parish  charges,  and  the 
thousand  other  Government  exactions,  which  crush  the  operative  to  the 
very  dust.  The  British  laborer  is  followed  by  the  tax-gatherer  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave.  His  food,  his  physic,  his  fuel,  his  clothing,  the 
implements  of  his  trade,  the  humble  furniture  of  his  cottage,  his  win- 
dows, his  chimneys,  the  very  air  and  light,  and  even  his  shroud,  all 
these  are  subject  to  direct  taxation.  His  bread  he  divides  with  his  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  lords,  and  the  ruler  takes  the  lion’s  share.  His 
children  are  pinched  and  starved,  that  the  younger  sons  of  the  aristo- 
cracy may  be  pensioned,  and  he  toils,  and  shivers,  and  suffers,  that  the 
self-styled  successors  of  the  Apostles  may  roll  in  gilded  chariots,  and 
dwell  in  sumptuous  palaces. 

It  is  not,  then,  the  protective  system  of  England  that  oppresses  her 
people;  no,  sir,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  that  system,  and  that  alone, which 
enables  her  laboring  classes  to  bear  up  staggering  under  such  a load  as 
was  never  elsewhere  laid  upon  the  shoulders  of  humanity.  Her  pro- 
tective system  is  not  the  burden,  but  it  is  the  elastic  spring  which  alone 
renders  that  burden  supportable.  Let  England  abandon  that  system, 
and  adopt  the  insane  doctrine  of  free  trade,  would  her  humble  classes 
gain  by  the  exchange?  Admit  that  their  bread  stuffs  might  cost  them 
less,  would  their  taxes  be  lightened  by  the  loss  of  a hundred  millions 
in  duties?  Would  their  wages  be  raised,  or  their  opportunities  of  em- 
ployment be  multiplied,  by  the  destruction  of  her  industrial  establish- 
ments? Would  other  nations  supply  them  with  manufactured  goods 
at  cheaper  rates  than  they  obtain  them  now?  Sir,  it  needs  no  (Edipus 
to  answer  such  questions  as  these;  and  the  man  must  be  mad  who 
traces  the  wretchedness  of  England’s  enslaved  laborers  to  the  protec- 
tion of  her  industry,  or  supposes  that  their  miseries  would  be  relieved 
by  its  sacrifice. 

Again,  sir,  the  British  statesman  may  confidently  calculate,  where 
the  American  can  but  hazard  a guess.  The  extent  and  relative  capa- 
cities of  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  interests  are  known  with 
great  exactness  of  detail,  and  the  sudden  extension,  or  essential  modi- 
fication of  either  is  difficult,  if  not. impracticable.  Changes  are  slow; 
new  manufactures  will  not  spring  up  like  Jonah’s  gourd  in  a single 
night;  and  capital  is  so  abundant,  that  those  already  established  will 
not  be  ruined  or  suspended  on  account  of  a trifling  fluctuation  in  the 
demand  for  goods,  or  in  the  cost  of  the  raw  material.  It  is  quite  safe 


7 

to  assume,  that  my  lord  will  not  give  up  to  cultivation  so  much  of  his 
forest  as  is  required  to  breed  a covey  of  partridges,  barely  to  save  from 
starvation  some  half  a dozen  families  who  pine  for  the  bread  which 
those  few  acres  would  yield.  This  would  both  curtail  his  lawful  and 
laudable  sports,  and  moreover  injure  the  grain-growing  interest  by  in- 
creasing the  supply.  Such  destructive  policy  is  not  to  be  apprehended 
from  the  prudent  and  patriotic  landholder,  and  the  extension  or  modi- 
fication of  rural  husbandry  is  very  slowly  and  cautiously  permitted. 

It  is,  then,  known  what  quantity  of  land  will  be  cultivated,  what 
grain,  or  pulse,  or  roots,  will  be  grown  from  year  to  year,  and  the 
amount  of  produce  is  subject  to  no  uncertainty  but  that  of  the  seasons. 

So  the  manufacturing  establishments  are  precisely  guaged,  and,  though 
these  are  progressive  in  themselves,  yet  they  may  be  regarded  as  sta- 
tionary and  constant  when  contrasted  with  our  own  ever  changing  in- 
dustry. Unwearied  pains  are  taken  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  demand 
for  British  goods  abroad,  and  the  quantity  and  probable  cost  of  the  sup- 
ply of  the  raw  material.  With  all  these  elements  an  approximate  cal- 
culation may  be  made.  The  effects  of  a given  policy  may  be  to  some 
extent  foreseen,  and  the  causes  being  known,  it  is  safe  to  argue  that 
like  causes  will  produce  like  effects. 

With  us  the  picture  is  reversed.  Our  statistical  details  are  loose, 
slovenly,  and  unreliable,  not  to  say  faithless,  to  the  very  extreme  of 
inaccuracy.  The  modes  and  objects  of  our  husbandry,  and  all  our  in- 
dustrial employments,  are  incessantly  fluctuating.  New  sources  of 
production  are  opening  every  hour.  The  amount  of  any  given  article 
produced  in  one  year  scarcely  furnishes  ground  for  a plausible  conjee-  y 
ture  as  to  the  quantity  to  be  expected  the  next ; and  the  most  saga- 
cious statesman  must  throw  down  his  pen  in  despair,  whenever  he 
attempts  to  reduce  his  anticipations  of  the  future  to  even  approximate 
calculation. 

I repeat  then,  sir,  with  us  all  experiment  is  but  a leap  in  the  dark. 
Let  us  be  content  with  present  prosperity,  and  suffer  not  ourselves  to 
be  bewildered  by  the  fear  of  evils,  which  may  be  fancied  but  cannot  be 
foreseen. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  while  on  this  point,  that,  whatever  the  prac- 
tice of  England  may  be,  the  teachings  of  her  popular  writers  tend  to 
the  very  doctrines  inculcated  by  this  report.  Authors  are  subsidized 
to  manufacture  free-trade  theories  for  the  foreign  market,  and  large 
sums  are  raised  to  carry  on  this  new  missionary  enterprise  of  dissemi- 
nating through  the  world  those  doctrines  of  political  economy  which 
England  is  wise  enough  to  repudiate  at  home. 

England  spares  no  pains  to  acquire  an  influence  here.  She  aims  to 
dictate  our  economical  theories,  our  commercial  system,  our  legislation. 
She  commends  herself  to  the  North,  by  boasting  of  her  achievements 
in  the  great  cause  of  the  abolition  of  human  slavery ; and  to  win  favor 
at  the  South,  she  holds  out  the  delusive  hope  that  her  influence  will  be 
thrown  into  the  scale  of  universally  free  and  unrestricted  trade. 

But,  sir,  are  we  never  to  be  in  fact,  what  near  threescore  and  ten 
years  ago  our  fathers  declared  us  to  be  of  right,  independent  of  Eng- 
land! Have  we,  in  that  long  space,  learned  nothing  from  our  own 
experience,  and  is  the  utmost  period  of  the  life  of  man  too  short  to 
teach  anything  to  a nation  ! Are  not  the  counsels  of  the  wise  and 
good,  the  dead  and  the  living  of  our  own  land,  sufficient  for  our  gui- 


8 


dance?  Forme,  sir,  the  examples  and  the  teachings  of  our  fathers 
suffice.  I look  for  no  instruction  in  the  science  of  government  to  Brit- 
ish writers  at  home,  or  to  British  renegades,  or  alienated  Americana 
here  ; and  I prefer  the  palpable  prosperity  that  I can  see  and  feel  to 
the  airy  visions  of  the  most  persuasive  theorist. 

But  it  is  time  to  look  a little  more  closely  at  the  bill  under  considera- 
tion, and  to  inquire  into  its  real  character  and  purposes.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  cast  a glance  at  it,  without  discovering  that  both  its  argu- 
ments and  its  facts  are  derived  from  sources  unfriendly  to  American 
interests,  and  more  disposed  to  color,  distort,  or  suppress,  than  candidly 
to  disclose  the  whole  truth.  You  are  hearing  the  arguments  and  as- 
sumptions of  British  importers  from  the  mouths  of  American  statesmen. 
The  hostility  of  the  bill  to  domestic  labor  is  so  thinly  disguised,  if,  in- 
deed, there  be  any  attempt  at  concealment,  that  it  seems  a work  of 
supererogation  to  point  it  out;  but  so  far  as  the  policy  it  inculcates  can 
be  referred  to  any  intelligible  principle,  it  is  this  : to  make  a show  of 
protection  to  the  raw  material,  by  a slight  reduction,  or,  as  in  the  case  of 
wool  not  grown  in  this  country,  a slight  increase  of  the  duties  imposed 
by  the  existing  law,  and  then  to  neutralize  this  protection,  by  admit- 
ting the  manufactured  article  at  a much  lower  rate.  The  manufactu- 
rer can  be  induced  to  purchase  the  raw  material  only  by  the  hope  of 
profit  on  the  manufactured  goods.  But  if  you  admit  the  goods  at  such 
rates  that  the  foreign  manufacturer  can  undersell  him  in  our  market, 
he  will  suspend  his  operations,  and  buy  the  raw  mateiial  no  longer. 
It  avails  nothing  to  the  American  producer  to  protect  his  wool  by  a 
duty  of  thirty  per  cent.,  if  you  admit  woollen  goods  at  the  same,  or  a 
lower  rate  of  duty.  You  destroy  his  market,  by  destroying  the  induce- 
ment of  the  domestic  manufacturer  to  buy.  This  is  too  palpable  to 
require  any  elucidation  beyond  the  simple  statement.  Indeed,  so 
unequivocally  is  the  bill  characterized  by  unrelenting  hostility  to 
American  industry,  that  it  in  general  reduces  the  duties  imposed  by  the 
tariff  of  1842  on  foreign  manufactures  just  in  proportion  to  the  amouut 
of  foreign  labor  expended  upon  them.  This  is  a point  of  so  great  im- 
portance that  I desire  to  draw  to  it  the  special  attention  of  the  Committee. 
By  the  tariff  of  1842,  the  highest  duties  were  imposed  on  those  wares 
in  which  the  value  of  the  raw  material  bore  the  lowest  proportion  to 
the  amount  of  the  labor  required  for  their  fabrication,  and  so  far  the 
duty  operated  as  a tax  on  foreign  and  a bounty  upon  domestic  labor. 
The  bill  now  under  consideration  proposes  to  abolish  this  just  and  salu- 
tary discrimination,  and  in  effect  to  give  a premium  to  the  foreign 
laborer.  Thus,  the  duty  on  raw  silk  is  reduced  three  and  a half  per 
cent.;  the  duty  on  silk  goods  from  five  to  forty  per  cent.  The  duty  on 
iron  four  per  cent.,  on  manufactures  of  iron  from  four  tc  one  hundred 
and  seven  per  cent.  The  duty  on  common  wool,  three  cents  per 
pound,  on  woollen  goods  from  five  to  fifty-seven  per  cent.  The  duty 
on  the  simpler  glass  wares,  one  per  cent.;  if  partially  cut,  sixty-two 
per  cent.  ; if  cut  from  one-third  to  one-half  the  length,  one  hundred 
and  fifty-six  per  cent.,  and  upon  the  larger  sizes  of  crown  glass  two 
hundred  and  thirteen  per  cent.  To  what  principle,  but  hostility  to 
domestic  labor,  can  wre  refer  a system  of  duties  which  favors  the  ad- 
mission of  foreign  wares,  in  proportion  as  their  value  has  been  increased 
by  the  employment  of  foreign  capital  and  foreign  labor? 

The  avowed  principle  of  the  bill,  that,  namely,  of  providing  for 


9 


revenue  alone,  is  not  merely  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  legislative  pro- 
tection— it  goes  beyond  this,  and  wars  directly  upon  those  interests 
which  most  require  protection.  A revenue  duty  must  be  so  framed  as 
to  invite  importation.  If  you  discourage  the  importation  of  a particular 
article,  you  diminish  or  destroy  your  revenue  from  it,  and  if  you  aim 
to  draw  the  greatest  amount  of  revenue  from  each  description  of  goods, 
you  must  so  regulate  your  tariff  as  to  induce  the  greatest  importation  of 
those  goods.  This  you  can  do  only  by  giving  the  foreign  producer  a 
preference  over  the  domestic  in  our  own  market.  A revenue  tariff, 
then,  is  such  an  arrangement  of  duties  as  will  enable  the  foreign  manu- 
facturer to  compete  successfully  with  the  native,  and  is  consequently 
antagonistic,  not  only  to  that  which  is  imposed  for  the  specific  purpose 
of  protection,  but  to  that  more  rational  system  so  happily  exemplified 
in  the  tariff  of  1842,  which,  with  singular  felicity,  combines  increase  of 
revenue  with  competent  protection  to  most  branches  of  domestic  in- 
dustry. 

I am  aware  that  northern  democrats,  in  general,  dare  not  openly 
avow  hostility  to  home  labor.  Like  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  of  old, 
they  u fear  the  people,55  and  even  profess  friendship  for  the  cause. 
But  this  bill  comes  from  the  democratic  oracles.  Soothsayers,  of  higher 
rank  than  the  magi  of  this  House,  have  been  taken  into  council,  and  a 
mighty  astrologer  has  pronounced  upon  the  horoscope.  Doubtless  the 
report  speaks  the  real  sentiments  of  the  party ; and  its  policy  is  des- 
tined to  be  carried  out,  if  the  scattered  and  dispirited  legions  of  the  de- 
mocracy can  yet  be  rallied  in  sufficient  strength  to  wrest  the  victory  from 
the  growing  and  gathering  forces  of  u that  army  with  banners, 55  which 
has  already  smitten  them  with  panic  terror.  It  is  in  vain  to  deny  that 
the  bill  is  both  calculated  and  designed  to  overthrow  the  whole  pro- 
ductive industry  of  our  people;  and  the  friendship  of  the  self-styled 
democrat  for  the  laborer  is  that  of  the  Quaker  skipper  for  the  enemy’s 
captain  who  boarded  his  vessel.  u Friend,55  said  Ichabod,  flinging  his 
brawny  arms  around  him,  “I  will  not  hurt  thee,  but  I presume  thee 
can  swim,55  and,  so  saying,  threw  him  overboard. 

I do  not  propose  to  inquire  into  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress 
to  legislate  with  a view  to  protection;  for  I have  not  observed  that 
constitutional  scruples  oppose  any  very  serious  obstacles  in  gentlemen’s 
way,  when  a favorite  project  is  to  be  carried.  Besides,  these  scruples 
are  particularly  rife  among  the  very  same  class  of  politicians  who  en- 
tertain no  doubt  of  the  right  of  this  single  House  to  exercise  a power, 
in  restricting  the  right  of  petition,  which  the  express  words  of  the 
Constitution  deny  to  Congress,  and  who,  in  the  case  of  the  four  recu- 
sant States,  maintained  the  power  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
nullify  a solemn  act  of  the  national  legislature,  passed  in  strict  con- 
formity with  the  letter  of  the  Constitution.  Sir,  I have  no  fear  that 
gentlemen  who  swallowed  those  camels  will  ever  be  strangled  by  so 
email  a gnat  as  this.  The  constitutional  cholic,  is  indeed,  a grievous 
complaint,  oftentimes  an  excruciatingly  painful  disease,  but,  happily, 
it  is  never  mortal.  Gentlemen  are  frequently  attacked  by  it,  they 
sicken,  they  suffer.  In  the  words  of  the  law,  they  languish  and  lan- 
guishingly  do  live,  but  die  never.  In  the  long  rows  of  our  departed 
predecessors,  in  yonder  cemetery,  you  find  the  monuments  of  those 
who  have  fallen  a prey  to  death  in  all  his  varied  shapes.  Gout,  apo- 
plexy, consumption,  fever,  and  even  the  hand  of  violence,  each  hath 


10 


had  its  victims,  but  constitutional  scruples,  none.  For  such  a disorder, 
it  would  seem  superfluous  to  prescribe.  Besides,  the  very  vis  medica- 
trix  of  nature  sometimes  originates  milder  forms  of  disease,  by  whose 
action  the  peccant  humors  of  the  system  are  carried  off,  and  dangerous 
organic  or  chronic  complaints  are  prevented  or  healed.  Who  knows 
but  this  constitutional  malady  may  serve  some  like  prophylactic  or 
medicative  purpose  in  our  political  system  1 These  scruples  are  often 
of  excellent  use,  by  way  of  apology  for  voting  with  our  party,  and 
against  the  plainest  reasons  of  general  good,  or  the  interests  of  our  own  . 
constituents.  Moreover,  in  debate,  they  are  a good  tub  for  the  whale, 
and  serve  in  a party  siege  to  divert  the  attack  from  the  weaker  points, 
the  salient  angles,  of  the  fortress.  It  would  therefore  be  hardly  fair, 
were  it  practicable,  to  deprive  gentlemen  of  so  convenient  a retreat 
when  pressed  by  arguments  which  they  are  unable  to  answer. 

But  however  serious  gentlemen  may  be  in  insisting  on  constitutional 
objections,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  the  country  will  now  abandon 
as  unconstitutional  a system  sanctioned  by  the  very  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution in  the  Congress  of  1789,  and  approved  by  every  President, 
from  Washington  down  to  the  immortal  successor  of  his  own  cc  illus- 
trious predecessor,”  who  has  been,  and  is,  on  both  sides  of  every  sup- 
posable  question  but  two — the  abolition  of  slavery  in  this  District, 
namely,  and  the  expediency  of  the  selection  of  a certain  favorite  son, 
a certain  northern  man  with  southern  principles,  who  shall  at  present 
be  nameless,  as  the  next  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  On 
the  former  of  these  points  I believe  he  is  committed;  and  I rather  think 
there  are  gentlemen  hereabouts,  who,  if  they  saw  good  cause,  could 
tell  how  and  why  he  became  so.  As  to  the  other  question,  I have  never 
understood  that  he  entertained  any  hesitation,  unless  it  may  be  a trifling 
doubt,  whether  the  people,  upon  “sober  second  thought,”  would  con- 
firm the  nomination  which  the  convention  ought  to  make;  and  whether 
they  would  not,  under  the  influence  of  ancient  prejudice  or  new  delu- 
sion, reject  the  cashiered  pilot  who  asks  to  be  reinstated,  and  prefer 
rather  a more  experienced  and  trusty  helmsman. 

There  are  certain  kinds  and  branches  of  industry  which,  as  all  men 
agree,  lawfully  may  be,  and  as  matter  of  expediency  ought  to  be,  pro- 
tected. You  secure  to  the  author  the  copy-right  in  the  coinage  of  his 
brain,  and  you  guarantee  to  the  inventor  of  a new  process,  or  machine, 
the  exclusive  right  to  his  invention  against  every  competitor,  whether 
native  or  foreign.  Here  is  protection,  in  the  odious  form  of  an  abso- 
lute monopoly;  yet  no  man  questions  its  justice  or  its  expediency.  I 
am  well  aware  that,  in  the  case  of  the  celebrated  cotton  gin,  southern 
chivalry  thought  fit  practically  to  nullify  the  patent  law,  and  to  deny 
to  the  meritorious  inventor  all  substantial  reward  for  his  valuable  ma- 
chine; but  in  general  the  policy  of  the  law  is  approved. 

[Mr.  Holmes  here  interposed,  and  observed,  that  South  Carolina  had 
purchased  the  right  to  the  use  of  the  cotton  gin.  And  Mr.  Rhett  added, 
that  the  same  State  had  afterwards  made  a voluntary  grant  of  $20,000 
to  the  inventor.  It  was  also  suggested  that  North  Carolina  had  acquired 
the  right  for  the  use  of  her  citizens  by  fair  purchase.] 

Protection  has,  as  I have  before  remarked,  already  done  its  work  for 
the  great  staple  of  the  south ; and  no  man  familiar  with  the  history  of 
manufactures,  and  particularly  of  mechanical  invention,  can  doubt  that 
legislative  protection  has  been  the  indispensable  condition  of  the  great 


11 


prosperity  and  extended  amount  of  the  cotton  trade.  The  encourage- 
ment early  afforded  to  the  growth  and  working  of  cotton,  induced  in- 
vestments in  this  branch  of  manufacture,  and  it  soon  attained  a con- 
siderable degree  of  importance.  The  mechanical  ingenuity  of  this 
country,  and  of  England,  now  began  to  exert  a reciprocal  influence; 
The  admirable  construction  of  our  machinery,  copied  and  improved  from 
that  of  England,  and  the  advantages  enjoyed  by  our  manufacturer  in 
the  abundance  and  cheapness  of  water-power,  compelled  the  English 
to  improve  their  spinning  and  weaving  apparatus.  This  improvement 
reacted  upon  us,  and,  in  like  manner,  led  to  new  contrivances;  and 
the  whole  process  of  converting  cotton  into  cloths  has  been  more  than 
once  completely  revolutionized.  The  consequence  has  been  a vastly 
facilitated  and  cheapened  production  of  cotton  goods,  and  of  course  a 
proportionally  increased  use  of  them.  Cotton  has,  to  a great  extent, 
supplanted  linen,  which  is  more  costly  of  production,  and  far  less  ca- 
pable of  elaboration  by  machinery.  Cottons  have  also  been  largely 
substituted  for  woollens,  in  the  shape  of  cotton  flannels,  and  other  thick 
fabrics;  and  they  are  interwoven  with  linen,  with  silk,  with  wool,  with 
the  fleece  of  the  cashmere  goat,  and  in  fact  with  every  textile  sub- 
stance. Cotton  is  used  in  vast  quantities  for  batting  and  padding,  for 
canvass,  and  innumerable  other  purposes,  to  which  none  thought  of 
applying  it  until  within  the  last  few  years.  Hence  there  is  a demand 
for  this  product  almost  without  limit,  and  the  planter  both  buys  cheaper 
the  manufactured  article,  and  sells  a vastly  increased  quantity  of  the 
raw  material. 

Such  are  the  effects  of  protection ; and  I cannot  forbear  to  notice  in 
this  connexion  a remarkable  instance  of  the  interdependence  between 
different  branches  of  industry,  and  of  the  unforeseen  collateral  benefits 
which  flow  from  this  eminently  wise  and  paternal  system.  The  en- 
larged consumption,  and  wear  of  cotton  goods,  has  proportionally  in- 
creased the  supply  of  rags  for  the  paper  maker,  and  the  raw  material 
for  the  most  important  of  all  manufactures — the  handmaid  of  that  art 
which  is  the  conservator  of  all  art  and  all  knowledge — is  furnished  in  in- 
exhaustible abundance,  and  at  greatly  reduced  cost.  Illustrations  of 
this  sort  might  be  multiplied  without  limit,  for  there  exists  between  the 
various  branches  of  productive  industry  the  same  common  bond,  which, 
according  to  an  ancient  philosophical  orator,  unites  the  entire  body  of 
the  liberal  arts  into  one  harmonious  whole. 

„ But,  sir,  is  not  this  very  bill  designed  to  protect  a particular  branch 
of  capital  and  industry,  and  that  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  others!  It  is 
hinted  that  foreign  trade  is  largely  interested  in  the  overthrow  of  our 
protective  system,  and  for  that  very  trade  protection  is  demanded.  But 
in  whose  behalf  is  this  protection  asked,  and  for  whose  benefit  are  we 
called  upon  to  sacrifice  our  own  productive  classes!  We  learn  from 
unquestionable  sources,  that  of  the  importations  from  Great  Britain 
sixty-five  per  cent,  is  on  British  account.  Of  those  from  France,  and 
other  continental  countries,  not  less  than  eighty-three  per  cent,  is  on 
foreign  account;  and  of  course  nearly  the  whole  profit  on  this  enormous 
proportion  of  our  trade  goes  into  the  hands  of  foreigners.  Shall  we  le- 
gislate for  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  and  of  France!  Shall  the  foreign 
importer  himself  determine  the  duty  which  he  will  condescend  to  pay! 
Are  his  interests  to  be  chiefly  regarded  in  the  legislation  of  this  Halil 
But  were  it  otherwise — were  the  advantages  of  this  great  commerce  the 


12 


proper  gain  of  our  own  citizens — is  this  object  of  the  promotion  of  foreign 
trade  worth  not  only  its  present  cost,  but  all  the  sacrifices  which  are 
asked  for  it?  In  1836,  ail  men  abandoned  their  regular  occupations, 
and  set  themselves  to  buy,  sell,  and  get  gain;  and  such  was  the  neglect 
of  agriculture,  that  even  oats  were  imported  from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe 
to  feed  the  horses  that  pastured  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk.  The 
excessive  trade  of  1836  was  followed  by  the  convulsion  of  1837,  and 
there  has  been  no  lack  of  lectures  from  our  Democratic  brethren  upon 
the  causes  of  that  convulsion.  The  crisis  of  1837,  said  they,  was  not 
owing  to  the  specie  circular,  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  to  the  re- 
fusal of  the  Government  to  recharter  the  United  States  Bank,  to  the 
multitude  of  State  banks  chartered  by  Democratic  legislatures  to  fill  the 
place  of  that  dead  monster,  to  the  derangement,  in  fine,  of  the  currency 
of  the  country  by  the  action  of  Government.  No,  it  was  none  of  these 
things,  nor  the  combined  action  of  all  these  things,  but  it  was  the 

EXCESSIVE  IMPORTATION — THE  SPIRIT  OF  OVERTRADING which  Caused  all 

that  ruin.  Is  then  the  spirit,  which  in  1836  was  a spirit  of  darkness, 
now  become  an  angel  of  light?  If  the  foreign  importations  of  1836  in- 
volved the  whole  land  in  bankruptcy,  ruin,  and  shame,  is  it  now  wise 
to  stimulate  importation  to  the  highest  extent  to  which  legislation  can 
carry  it? 

Again,  sir,  is  not  the  maintenance,  protection,  and  accommodation 
of  this  foreign  trade  one  of  the  heaviest  items  in  the  cost  of  our  national 
Government?  To  what  other  end  do  you  maintain  a navy,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  six  millions  per  annum,  to  display  your  protecting  flag  in  every 
sea  ? For  what  other  purpose  are  your  foreign  embassies,  your  costly 
custom-house  establishment,  and  a vast  proportion  of  your  civil  list? 
Sir,  I argue  not  against  these  things  as  unnecessary,  but  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  fact,  that  trade  too  has  its  protection,  and  to  suggest  the  in- 
quiry how  much  more  we  can  afford  to  pay  for  its  promotion. . 

Every  gentleman  who  has  studied  the  history  of  the  origin  of  this 
Government,  knows  that  the  protection  of  property,  as  well  as  life  and 
personal  liberty,  against  both  the  violence  and  the  policy  of  foreign 
powers,  was  the  chief  end  sought  to  be  attained  by  the  establishment 
of  the  confederacy.  The  power  of  granting  such  protection  as  domestic 
industry  requires,  has  been  surrendered  by  the  individual  States,  and 
unless  it  has  lodged  in  the  people  of  the  Union,  to  be  by  them  exer- 
cised, through  us,  their  representatives,  it  is  irrecoverably  gone.  The 
surrender  is  valid  to  pass  the  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  grantors, 
the  States,  but  not  good  to  vest  it  in  Congress,  the  grantee.  Strange 
anomaly — and  yet  to  this  reductio  ad  absurdum  you  are  inevitably 
brought,  if  you  deny  the  power  of  Congress  to  impose  a protective  duty. 
But  if  Congress  may  legislate  for  the  protection  of  capital  invested  in 
trade,  why  not  also  for  that  of  capital  invested  in  manufactures  ? The 
buildings,  the  machinery,  the  stock,  in  its  various  stages  of  elaboration, 
the  lands,  whose  value  depends  upon  the  successful  employment  of  the 
capital  thus  invested,  all  these  are  property,  as  much  as  the  stocks  of 
the  capitalist,  the  ships  of  the  merchant,  the  lands  of  the  planter,  and, 
viewed  simply  as  property,  without  regard  to  higher  considerations  of 
national  policy,  are  just  as  much  entitled  to  legislative  favor  and  pro- 
tection. The  American  capital  invested  in  manufactures  and  the  me- 
chanic arts,  is  believed  to  amount  to  no  less  a sum  than  four  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  ; and  one-fourth  of  our  population  is  dependent  for 


13 


bread  on  the  prosperity  of  those  arts.  To  this  vast  sum,  add  the  in- 
creased value  of  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  flourishing  manufactories,  and 
you  have  an  aggregate  scarcely  inferior  to  any  of  the  items  which  make 
up  the  sum  total  of  our  national  wealth. 

Destroy  the  protective  system,  and  you  annihilate  at  a blow  this 
great  accumulation  of  wealth,  this  immense  proportion  of  our  national 
resources.  In  regard  to  the  property  invested  in  manufactures,  it  is  to  be 
observed,  that  the  destruction  involved  by  its  sacrifice  has  no  compensa- 
tion. It  is  annihilation,  not  transfer.  Thousands  are  impoverished, 
none  are  enriched.  You  make  your  country  poorer,  by  the  amount 
both  of  the  capital  directly  invested,  and  the  difference  in  value  of  the 
lands  and  other  property  affected.  Let  a flourishing  factory  spring  up, 
with  its  capital  of  $100,000,  and  it  adds  to  the  saleable  value,  and  ac- 
tual productiveness  of  the  lands  in  its  vicinity,  at  least  as  much  more. 
Destroy  it,  and  all  this  wealth  has  evaporated.  In  the  case  of  the  re- 
moval of  public  buildings,  and  the  construction  of  works  of  internal 
i m prove  me  nt,  there  is  often  an  apparent  loss,  wThich  is,  however,  bal- 
anced by  a compensation  in  the  increased  value  thereby  given  to  prop- 
erty elsewhere.  Construct  a canal,  passing  three  miles  from  a flourish- 
ing country  village,  instead  of  through  it.  Its  prosperity  is  destroyed. 
One  by  one,  its  most  enterprizing  inhabitants  desert  it,  and  the  aged 
and  the  poor  alone  are  left.  The  cheerful  din  of  its  industry  is  hushed. 
The  grass  grows  in  the  streets,  its  cottages  are  no  longer  the  home  of 
man,  and  the  fox  looks  out  at  the  window.  Here  is  ruin,  here  is  deso- 
lation— melancholy  enough  no  doubt — but  there  is  another  side  to  the 
picture.  On  the  banks  of  that  canal  there  arises  a new  village,  which, 
in  its  rapid  growth  and  improvement,  far  outstrips  all  that  the  most  san- 
guine fancy  had  ever  hoped  for  its  older  rival.  Here  is  indeed  a destruc- 
tion, but  there  is  also  a creation  of  wealth.  It  is  a transfer,  not  an  an- 
nihilation of  prosperity,  and  though  individuals  may  suffer,  the  sum 
total  of  national  wealth  is  undiminished,  and  even  increased.  On  the 
other  hand,  strike  down  a great  branch  of  national  industry,  and  where 
is  your  compensation  'l  Do  southern  gentlemen  imagine  that  the  ruin 
of  the  manufacturers  of  Massachusetts  will  raise  the  price  of  cotton  1 
Do  the  forgemen  of  Pennsylvania  hope  to  sell  more  iron,  when  the 
busy  industry  of  New  England  shall  be  still,  and  the  clang  of  the  anvil 
and  the  hum  of  the  wheel  shall  no  more  mingle  with  the  roar  of  the 
waterfall  1 Does  the  western  farmer  suppose  that  he  shall  increase  the 
price  of  his  lands,  or  the  profits  of  his  husbandry,  by  compelling  his 
eastern  brethren  to  devote  to  the  growing  of  grain  and  the  feeding  of 
cattle  the  millions  of  acres  which  they  now  occupy  for  sheep-walks, 
and  for  the  cultivation  of  the  teazle  and  other  vegetable  products  re- 
quired for  the  use  of  the  manufacturer'?  New  England  is  able  abun- 
dantly to  supply  her  own  population  with  bread-stuff3  and  meats.  Her 
soil,  though  inferior  to  the  prairies  of  the  West  in  fertility,  is  superior 
in  variety.  Sir,  the  West  can  produce  nothing,  absolutely  nothing, 
which  the  soil  of  New  England  cannot  also  be  made  to  yield  in  super- 
fluous abundance.  Even  in  fertility,  the  difference  between  the  East 
and  the  West  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  Sir,  on  this  subject  I do 
not  speak  without  book.  I have  seen  the  principal  grain-growing 
Slates  of  the  West  in  their  harvest,  and  being  practically  familiar  with 
agriculture,  I claim  «o  be  able  to  judge  of  their  productiveness.  The 
western  people,  with  all  their  virtues,  and  I accord  them  many,  are  a 


14 


little  prone  to  talk  in  Ercles’  vein ; and  I have  heard  on  the  prairies 
some  gasconading  about  crops,  which  would  have  done  no  dishonor  to 
Ancient  Pistol.  We  of  the  East,  as  manufacturers  and  shepherds,  are,, 
to  some  extent,  dependent  on  you  of  the  West.  Destroy  our  industry, 
compel  us  to  exchange  the  loom  for  the  plough,  the  sheep  for  the  ox, 
turn  us  from  consumers  into  producers,  and  you  have  lost  your  best 
customer-— we  buy  of  you  no  longer.  Of  the  forty  millions  of  the  pro- 
duce of  other  States  which  Massachusetts  consumes,  she  will  require 
not  a dollar.  Add  to  this  the  supplies  demanded  for  the  manufactures 
of  other  States,  and  you  have  not  less  than  one  hundred  millions  of 
American  produce,  for  which  a market  will  no  longer  exist.  Where 
do  you  look  for  compensation  for  this  loss'?  You  have  not  the  smallest 
reason  to  expect  that  the  British  corn  laws  will  be  repealed — no  other 
European  nation  will  take  your  produce,  and  when  you  are  ready  to 
sell,  none  will  be  found  to  buy. 

Let  the  western  farmer  examine  this  bill,  and  calculate  the  saving 
which  he  supposes  he  would  make  by  the  operation  of  this  anti-labor 
tariff.  How  many  dollars  would  he  save  on  his  cloths,  how  many  on 
Ins  ironware,  how  many  on  his  glass,  his  groceries,  and  other  imported 
goods'?  Even  admitting  the  truth  of  the  false  principle  assumed  by 
the  report,  that  a reduction  of  duty  is  a reduction  of  price  to  the  con- 
sumer, he  will  find  that  few  families  would  save  fifty  dollars,  the  la- 
borer, probably,  not  ten.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  would  not  this  gain 
be  more  than  overbalanced  by  the  inevitable  reduction  in  the  price  of 
his  produce,  resulting  from  the  loss  of  a market  which  consumes,  an- 
nually, $100,000,000  of  the  products  of  the  non-manufacturing  States'? 
Sir,  where  the  western  States  would  save  one  million,  they  would  lose 
ten.  But,  I repeat  it,  it  is  not  true  that  a diminution  of  the  duty  lowers 
the  price.  Reduce  them  so  as  to  destroy  domestic  manufactures,  and 
do  you  think  that  the  British  artisan,  when  relieved  from  American  com- 
petition, will  sell  you  his  wares  as  cheaply  as  now?  Will  he  not  rather 
take  advantage  of  his  monopoly  of  the  market,  and  compel  you  both 
to  buy  and  to  sell  at  his  own  price  ? 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  South  and 
West,  by  inflated  statements  in  regard  to  the  profits  of  the  manufactur- 
ers. It  has  been  proved,  by  calculations,  omitting  only  the  use  of  cap- 
ital, wear  and  decay  of  machinery,  fixtures,  and  buildings,  taxes  and 
insurance,  and  the  numerous  contingencies  to  which  these  establish- 
ments are  pre-eminently  liable,  that  the  eastern  manufacturers  must 
have  cleared  not  less  than  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  per  annum  for  a 
series  of  years.  We  have  the  best  authority  for  saying,  that  the  profits 
of  the  cotton  manufacturers  have  for  years  not  exceeded  an  average  of 
six  per  cent. ; and  as  to  woollen  mills,  it  is  within  my  personal  know- 
ledge, that  there  is  scarcely  a woollen  factory  in  New  England,  which 
has  not  lost  a sum  equal  to  its  entire  capital,  since  1837.  Under  the 
tariff  of  1842,  these  establishments  can  live,  but  they  can  never  be  a 
means  of  the  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth. 

I wish  to  present  another  general  consideration.  I refer  to  the  im- 
portance of  domestic  manufactures,  as  an  essential  element  in  a system 
of  national  independence  and  defence.  Gentlemen  need  not  to  be  told, 
that  during  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  the  Government  was  forced 
to  connive  at  an  illicit  trade  with,  the  enemy,  as  the  only  means  of  sup- 
ply of  such  articles  as  neither  Government  nor  people  could  live  with- 


15 

out.  Shall  we  again  subject  ourselves  to  the  inconvenience  and  shame 
of  smuggling  from  a hostile  country  the  very  blankets  which  cover  our 
soldiers;  and  while  slacking  fire,  that  the  smoke  of  our  guns  may  clear 
away,  shall  we  negotiate  with  the  enemy  for  the  purchase  of  powder  1 
I am  sorry  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,,1  that  I am  not  among  those  who  dis- 
cern in  the  signs  of  the  times  sq/e  tokens  of  abiding  peace.  The  age 
of  conquest,  it  is  said,  has  passed  away  ; but  at  a moment  when  our  own 
administration  is  meditating  a war  of  conquest,  and  has  already  virtually 
declared  hostilities  in  that  unholy  cause,  it  lies  not  in  our  mouths  to 
say,  that  such  wars  are  no  longer  possible.  Sir,  I have  too  much  re- 
spect for  the  cool  judgment  of  our  statesmen,  and  too  much  confidence 
in  the  regard  of  our  people  for  the  principles  of  justice,  and  the  integ- 
rity of  the  Union,  to  believe  that  they  will  assent  to  the  consummation 
of  a project,  which,  under  the  circumstances,  can  only  be  characterized 
as  supremely  unwise,  and  pre-eminently  flagitious,  and  which  must 
necessarily  result,  not  in  dissension,  but  in  disruption.  I do  not  there- 
fore apprehend  a conflict  with  Mexico,  or  its  necessary  corollary,  an 
immediate  war  with  England  ; but  I cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact,  that 
we  are  in  constant  danger  of  a lupture  with  the  most  formidable  power 
upon  earth.  Great  Britain,  sir,  holds  Canada  on  the  North,  her  fleets 
command  the  Atlantic  on  the  East;  on  the  South,  she  has  extensive  pos- 
sessions in  the  West  Indies  and  on  the  continent;  and  she  occupies,  to 
say  the  least,  an  equivocal  position  on  the  West.  But  this  is  not  all. 
Her  ships  are  traversing  every  sea,  and  seizing  upon  every  advantage- 
ous position,  which  is  either  unoccupied,  or  whose  possessors  are  too 
feeble  to  resist  her  encroachments  ; and  an  American  whaler  can  scarcely 
bring  off  a keg  of  water,  or  a boatload  of  cocoanuts,  from  a coral  reef 
in  the  wide  Pacific,  without  paying  tribute  to  the  outposts  of  England. 
I know,  indeed,  that  she  has  disclaimed  that  atrocious  outrage,  the  for- 
cible seizure  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Sandwich  islands,  but  I have  not 
yet  heard,  that  she  has  hung,  at  the  yardarm  of  his  own  ship,  the  pirat- 
ical lordiing  who  perpetrated  it.  Sir,  I charge  not  Great  Britain  with 
cherishing  dreams  of  widespread  conquest,  or  aiming  at  universal  em- 
pire : but  he  must  be  blind,  who  does  not  see  that  she  is  striving  for  no 
less  a prize  than  the  control  of  the  commerce  of  the  wTorid.  America 
too  is  ambitious.  She  disputes  with  England  the  sovereignty  of  the 
northeastern  shore  of  the  Pacific — we  are  rivals  in  the  same  branches  of 
trade,  and  the  red  cross  and  the  stars  and  stripes  float  side  by  side  in 
every  harbor  of  every  sea.  With  all  these  points  of  contact,  dare  we 
hope  that  we  shall  always  escape  collision ; and  is  it  wise  tg  doflf  our 
armor  while  our  adversary  is  lacing  his  helmet? 

Sir,  on  this  subject  let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  No  man  can  more  cordially 
detest  the  practice,  or  deplore  the  necessity,  of  a resort  to  arms ; none  can  more 
deeply  abhor  the  hellish  passions,  the  awful  crimes,  that  constitute  the  very  being 
of  war,  than  myself ; and  I am  not  prepared  to  say,  that  any,  or  even  all,  of  the 
pending  or  adjourned  questions  between  us  and  Great  Britain  are  worth  a war. 
But,  sir,  I know  that  England  is  regarded  with  angry  and  inflammable  jealousy 
along  the  whole  frontier,  and  a small  spark  may  at  any  moment  kindle  that  tinder 
to  an  appalling  flame.  Thus  situated,  I hold  it  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  foster 
and  strengthen  our  own  domestic  resources,  rather  than  to  cherish  and  reward 
the  industry  of  the  alien  and  the  stranger.  But  I am  wandering  from  the  sub- 
ject, and  I will  only  pause  to  express  my  surprise,  that  gentlemen  of  the  South, 
who  dread  the  interference  of  England  with  Texan  slavery,  and  fear  the  conta- 
gion of  her  example  in  her  West  India  possessions,  should  yet  advocate  a policy* 


16 


which  necessarily  implies  much  more  intimate  relations  with  that  formidabl 
rival-,  and  probable  enemy.  Destroy  our  manufactures,  and  subvert  that  revenu 
system  which  has,  from  our  national  infancy,  been  the  soul  of  our  finance,  an 
we  are  at  once  practically  reduced  to  a state  of  colonial  dependence  upon  ou 
ancient  oppressor.  Sir,  it  was  not  for  this  that  our  fathers  fell  at  Bunker  Hill 
at  Bennington,  and  at  Saratoga,  and  that  yours  bit  the  dust  in  the  hundred  parti 
zan  conflicts  which,  at  a later  period  of  the  war  of  independence,  dyed  your  sand 
with  the  best  blood  of  the  South. 

There  is  another  point  of  far  deeper,  though  .less  obvious,  interest  than  th 
mere  question  of  revenue,  or  the  present  pecuniary  gain  or  loss  to  the  consumer 
and  which  is  most  worthy  the  profound  consideration  of  the  philosophical  states 
man.  I refer  to  the  influence  of  such  manufactures  as  are  carried  on  by  m~ 
chinery,  upon  the  progress  of  mechanical  improvement,  and  the  consequent  mul 
tiplication  and  diffusion  of  both  the  physical  comforts  and  elegancies,  and  th 
higher  refinements  of  life.  The  encouragement  which  inventive  genius  hire  re 
ceived  at  the  hands  of  the  manufacturer,  is  the  principal  source  of  the  astoundiri 
r-.dvan^es  it'tat  haK  a century  h is  witnessed  in  practical  mechanics  and  mai# 
lions,  in  the  application  of  science  to  the  arts,  and  even  in  the  progress  and  dis 
semination  of  the  physical  sciences  themselves. 

The  wants  of  the  dyer,  the  bleacher,  the  sugar-refiner,  have  led  to, curious  in 
vestigations  and  most  important  results  in  scientific  analysis ; the  necessities  o 
the  machinist  have  prompted  improvements  in  smelting,  refining,  casting,  an 
forging  metals,  and  to  a better  knowledge  of  their  ores,  constitution,  and  proper 
ties ; the  demands  of  British  manufactures  are  the  parent  of  improvements 
mining,  mineralogical  research  and  geological  science;  to  them  we  owe  the  in- 
vention of  the  reciprocating  steam-engine,  and  the  introduction  of  railroads,  b~ 
means  of  all  which,  not  only  are  all  the  operations  of  government  immensely 
facilitated,  but  the  conveniences  of  life  are  so  multiplied  and  cheapened,  that,  a 
has  been  well  said,  the  humble  cottager  enjoys  more  comforts  than  an  empero 
of  Rome  in  the  days  of  her  greatest  splendor.  Knowledge,  too,  literally  run 
down  the  streets  like  a river.  The  power  press  sends  forth  its  sheets  by  thou 
sands  in  the  hour,  and  books  now  cost  less  than  did  the  paper  on  which  the 
are  printed  within  the  memory  of  members  of  this  House.  These  arts  are  em 
phatically  the  arts  of  peace;  these  are  the  true  philosopher’s  stone,  that  turns  al 
to  gold ; these  are  the  means  through  whose  aid  alone  the  philanthropist  ca‘ 
hope  to  level  up  suffering,  depressed,  and  debased  humanity.  Machinery  mus 
supply  the  physical  wants  of  the  indigent;  the  power  press  must  furnish  th 
popular  instructor  with  his  textbooks — the  missionary  with  his  bibles. 

To  the  improvements  in  the  mechanic  arts  we  have  contributed  our  full  share 
We  have  then  a proprietary,  a paternal  interest,  in  their  prosperity.  To  the 
we,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  are  most  deeply  indebted,  and  from  them  w 
have  most  to  hope.  Shall  we  lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of  the  tree  which  has  bon- 
such  nobir  fruits,  and  which  is  slid  rich  with  the  blossoms  of  future  promise 
What  does  not  the  South  ©we  to  the  cotton  gin  and  the  power  loom?  and  wha 
would  now  be  the  condition  of  that  mighty  West,  to  which  we  have  so  often  ap 
pealed,  without  canals,  railroads,  and  steamboats,  which  derive  both  the  motiv 
and  the  means  of  their  creation  from  the  progress  of  manufactures  ? Sir,  sh 
would  still  remain  a howling  wilderness,  inhabited  only  by  savages  and  wolve 
and  the  game  on  which  they  prey. 

Sir,  let  us  have  no  more  idle  speculation  upon  the  future  consequences  of  th 
existing  tariff.  Let  it  be  judged  by  its  fruits.  Show  what  evil  it  hath  done 
Prove  that  it  has  augmented  the  current  price  or  diminished  the  supply  of  an 
foreign  article  of  necessity  or  extensive  use.  Show  that  it  has  reduced  the  pric 
or  curtailed  the  sale  of  any  important  article  of  domestic  production — bat  terrif 
us  not  with  prophecies  of  future  evil  from  the  operation  of  that  cause  which  h 
crowned  the  past  and  the  present  with  abundant  blessings. 


